The present invention relates to a megaphone for sound directing and apparent sound amplification. In particular, the present invention is a two-piece megaphone having a conical member and an ornamental headpiece attached to the large diameter of the conical member.
Conical frustum-shaped, hollow pipes have been in use for thousands of years as a method of directing sound. Sound waves emanating omni-directionally from a point source (or a small area such as the human mouth) diminish rapidly in intensity as the wave front spreads. If the sound is introduced into a hollow, conically-shaped pipe, it is guided into a straighter, more unidirectional path by internal refractions within the pipe. An increase in apparent intensity is experienced by an observer some distance away in the directed path of the sound. A hollow, conical pipe along, by virtue of it being a passive device, adds no energy to the emitted sound waves. Thus, sound emanating from a conically-shaped pipe is apparently amplified in a preferred direction at the cost of sound attenuation in other, non-preferred directions.
A megaphone is a hollow, conically-shaped pipe sized for directing and apparently amplifying the human voice. Commonly used by cheerleaders and spectators at sporting events and other crowd gatherings, megaphones have been in use since before the beginning of the twentieth century. Folded or rolled paper megaphones with advertising or promotional messages have been sold or given away at sporting events in the United States since the turn of the century. U.S. Pat. No. 936,910 to Kingsley discloses such a megaphone. The prior art also includes attempts to add distinguishing features, such as the flattenable, square pyramidal frustum-shaped megaphone disclosed in U.S Pat. No. 1,613,001 to Wilhelm, which also includes provisions for an integral pencil holder.
A review of the prior art also discloses attempts at adding three-dimensional decorative shapes to the generally conical underlying shape of the megaphone, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Des 303,530 to Baer.
Since megaphones are often distributed as free or low cost promotional material, the cost of manufacture is an overriding concern. In a like vein, costs associated with storage and shipping must be minimized.
The decorative face disclosed in the Baer reference, in which the large diameter end of the megaphone is shaped into a representation of an open mouth, is a three-dimensionally enhanced megaphone configuration. However, the megaphone design disclosed in the Baer reference suffers cost disadvantages because it is composed of five individually manufactured pieces. The megaphone disclosed in the Baer reference, as in much of the other prior art, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,012 to Mueller, III and U.S. Pat. No. 2,517,665 to Hochstein, all suffer from the limited durability inherent in the rolled or folded paper construction employed.